Relevant Literature

Edit 0 24 …
The Big Ideas Arising from the Literature
external image 496-big-idea.jpg

  1. Parent Council groups are often required due to legislation that mandates the inclusion of parent/ community voice.

  2. Parent Council groups are often seen as a body that assists in promoting home-school-community connections.

  3. The make up, role and effectivenss of parent council groups differ greatly between countries, provinces, districts, even schools within the same district.

  4. There are many ways to involve parents in the school, but the goal should be for this involvement to increase student achievement.

  5. Parent Council groups are most effective when:

    1. Policy guides their actions

    2. Membership is diverse and includes teachers, administrators, (a widened constituency of) parents, community members

    3. Decision making is shared/ there is a shift in authority to a more authentic and distributed model


    4. Communication is clear



      KEY STATEMENT:

      Effective educational leaders and managers will find a balance of power that enables parent council groups and school staff to build capacity and support a caring community, while maintaining a focus on student learning.

One Sentence Article Summary and Main Points
 Citation Information
Explores the role parents and community play in schools and whether or not we are achieving the desired educational and societal aims.
Discusses/ Examines:
  • the legislated requirements of parent councils
  • types of parent involvement and argues that all are important and beneficial.
  • boosting student learning and development are primary aims of practices and policies promoting parent and community involvement. "To be effective, parent and community involvement promotion through practice and policy needs to go beyond whether parents are involved; it needs to focus on how they are involved and what happens as a result.” (p.9)
 Corter, C. & Pelletier, J. (2004). The rise and stall of parent and community involvement in schools. Schools Families, and Communities: Which Relationships Matter Most? Orbit, 34(3), 7-12. Retrieved from http://www.bcspe.ca/docs/2005/10/rise-and-stall-of-parent-and-community-involve-carl-corter.pdf
Committees should just not be composed of parents primarily, but a home-school-community partnership needs to exist to improve schools.
A successful advisory committee includes:
  • Shared Decision Making
  • Diversse membership including parents, staff, community members, and the “principal as ex officio” (p. 44).
  • Orientation or training for the role
  • Clear Focus and Purpose for group
 Jennings, W. (1989). How to Organize Successful Parent Advisory Committees. Educational Leadership, 47(2), 42-45.
An examination of the nature and extent of influence of councils on schools after several years of implementation and the conditions under which school councils make positive contributions to classroom and school-wide practices.
Discusses:
  • obstacles to effective school councils: power struggles and political conflict, lack of council role definition, parents’ attitudes and beliefs, lack of time to commit
  • recommendations: parents are given clear guidelines on council protocol, resources and professional development, and the principal, as a key player, must be willing to give up some bureaucratic power
  • conclusions: school councils don't really matter (when effectiveness long term is defined as improved student outcomes and effectiveness in the short term is defined as changes in classroom practice.). For school councils to become more influential, a dramatic shift in government policy that will actually give councils more decision-making power is needed.
 Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D., & Steinback, R. (1998). Do School Councils Matter? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April 13-17, 1998). Retrieved from: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED424644.pdf
Having an effective School Council provides a balance between democratic and professional decision making to guide school improvement efforts.
From the perspective of the school council, they are most effective when they:
  • Have the opportunity to decide how to spend money on effective programming.
  • Invest time & energy into the process.
  • See the impact on students of the programs that were implemented.
  • Work with a principal who shares data.
  • Work with a principal who supports School Council decisions even though he/she might not initially agree.
  • Principal respects School Council members as leaders.
  • Being full participants in the hiring process of a new principal.
 Nygaard, R. (2010). Sources of confidence in school community councils. The School Community Journal, (20)2, 137-158.
In a time of growing interest in accountability, sharing school governance with parents, teachers, the community, and business leaders has become a norm.
  • parent council groups seen as promoting home- school partnerships and assisting in finding a blanace between opposing interests of various constituent groups.
  • purposes of parent council groups:
    • bring communities and schools closer together in a spirit of cooperation to solve difficult educational problems, improve academic achievement, provide support for teachers and administrators, bring parents into the school-based decision-making process, provide advice, recommendations, and assistance to principals and local boards of education.
  • Factors enabling council effectiveness noted most often were:
    • open communication and availability of information.
    • community input, similar to open communication, as a factor enabling school council effectiveness.
    • teamwork and cooperation key factors for council effectiveness.
    • development of focus and administrative support NOT enabling factors for school council effectiveness
 Pharis, T., Bass, R.V. & Pate, J.L. (2005). School Council Member Perceptions and Actual Practice of School Councils in Rural Schools. Rural Educator, 26(2), 33-38.
Parent advisory councils in Canada must overcome challenges to further parent-educator partnership to meet decision-making goals for education-related issues.
  • understand the historical and legal implications of parent council groups in Canada
  • issues of resolving questions on authority, scope and parent-educator interests are needed.
  • encouraging parent participation as part of improving students' academic achievement including removing obstacles inherent in academic organizations that limit parental involvement.
  • widening the constituency of involved parents.
 McKenna, M. & Willms, J.D. (1998). The challenge facing parent councils in Canada. Childhood Education,74(6), 378 – 383. Retrieved from: http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA21078551&v=2.1&u=ucalgary&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w